“Use of self” is what Organizational Development practitioners call the complex set of awareness and behaviors that make it possible to be genuinely helpful to others. Effective use of self is essential for influencing change in an organization. This section will help you understand how your assumptions influence your behavior and your perception of others; how to counter covert dynamics in the workplace that undermine productivity; how to encourage ethical leadership; how to foster inclus...

Thinking systemically and strategically means moving beyond a focus on the individual to understand the larger organizational and environmental systems and how the dynamics of those systems impact work performance and the readiness for change. This section will explain how certain problems recur and are often made worse by quick solutions; how one decision can impact many people and set in motion a situation that can create numerous unexpected outcomes for the organization; and how to deci...

The role of the HR professional has shifted from personnel administrator to business adviser, which includes consulting and partnering with the organization’s leadership and other service providers. This section will help you learn what core skills are needed for consulting; how to develop partner relationships to support innovation and change; how to work with clients in a consultative mode; and how to deal with the challenges of being an internal consultant.

The pace of change is increasing and shows no signs of slowing down. This section brings you the best thinking from forty years of the OD Practitioner journal on:- The different kinds of change and what's needed to achieve each one.- What you must do to see change initiatives through to completion.- The enablers that must be in place for change to succeed.- Examining change from the change recipient’s point of view.- How to establish internal change agents who can help advocate for the cha...

Employee engagement makes a difference. HR professionals know this intuitively and so do leaders. They want employees to care about their work and actively engage with the job and the organization. But now we know that employee engagement is not just something that makes intuitive sense. It also reaps financial rewards. This section provides case studies, hard data about what is effective, and proven techniques for increasing employee engagement in the important work of the organization in...

Organizations are globalizing at a frenetic rate. The world is becoming more connected each year and each generation of technology speeds up this process. What once took weeks and then days to share now can be done in minutes. This section will help you understand the dynamics of culture and diverse values in a global environment; how to manage across both virtual and physical borders; and how to sustain the performance and engagement of multi-ethnic, multifaceted employees. Also included ...

This forward-thinking book introduces HR leaders to core organization development strategies and skills--providing creative approaches, practical tips, and proven methods to help them succeed.Since the 1990s, a transformation has occurred within the role of human resources departments. HR professionals are being called upon to help determine priorities in running the business, craft organizational development strategies, and shape the culture within their company.

This innovative and unique textbook describes change as a socially constructed process, reinforced by the interactions of employees at all levels. Including video and audio resources, it emphasises the fact that change is an on-going phenomenon: not an event that will soon be over once the consultants have left, but a permanent feature of an adaptable organisation.This novel theoretical perspective makes it the first and only text to focus on the central role of conversations and s...

Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is a widely recognised process for engaging people in organizational development and change management. Based on conversational practice, it is a particular way of asking questions, fostering relationships and increasing an organization's capacity for collaboration and change. It focuses on building organizations around what works, rather than trying to fix what doesn't, and acknowledges the contribution of individuals in increasing trust and organizational alignm...

Flawed Advice and the Management Trap: How Managers Can Know When They're Getting Good Advice and When They're Not is the first book to show how and why so much of today's business advice is flawed, and how managers and executives can better evaluate advice given to their firms Practitioners and scholars agree that businesses in the coming millennium will be managed differently than firms of the 20th century. And getting there from here, according to today's best advice, will require creat...

MUST READ FOR MANAGERS: Thinking well is important in all aspects of life, but tackling it explicitly is often overlooked in work-world training programs. Never have thinking skills been more important than now, in the 3rd Millennium, when companies worldwide competE for a competitive edge. Nowhere do you get more bang for your buck than in staff training that boosts people's abilities in the areas of analysis, reasoning, decision making, problem solving, creativity, and planning. Also se...

Making a case for a reflexive approach to leadership, the authors draw upon decades of carrying out in-depth studies of professionals trying to "do" leadership. Through interviews with managers and their subordinates, getting a good understanding of organizational context, and critically interpreting their observations considering both leadership theories and a wealth of other perspectives, their celebration of reflexivity is used to question dominant leadership thinking.Considerin...